An irish amateur baker sharing her successes (and failures!) in the kitchen

Red Velvet Cookies

Red velvet is one of my favourite cupcake flavours, so when I saw that Cupcake Jemma had created a cookie version, I just had to try it!

These are absolutely delicious, and so simple to make. The buttermilk gives them that delicious ‘tang’ that you get from a red velvet cupcake, as well as making them melt-in-the-mouth soft and chewy.

To get that classic deep red colour, food paste or gel colouring is the only way to go. For these I used ‘Christmas Red’ by SugarFlair Colour. You can buy this shade online here or in any good craft or kitchenware shop. (If you live in Ireland, check out Decobake!)

This makes approximately 15-20 cookies!

Ingredients

200g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

115g unsalted butter, soft

150g light soft brown sugar

50g caster sugar

1 large free range egg

2 tbsp Buttermilk

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1.5 tsp red food colour paste

100g white chocolate chips

Utensils

3 bowls – 2 large, 1 small

A weighing scales

A mixer (or a wooden spoon and some elbow grease!)

A whisk

A spatula

A fork

A cookie tray or sheet

Some greaseproof parchment paper

Plastic/latex gloves (I’ll explain later)

Method

Heat up the oven to 180c/350F/Gas mark 4.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder and the salt. There is no need to sift these, as you do not want puffed-up cookies!

In a separate bowl, beat the butter and and sugar until light and fluffy. You can use a mixer to do this, or if you want to give your arm a workout, you can do this by hand with a wooden spoon.

In a third bowl add the egg, the buttermilk, the red food gel/paste and the vanilla extract. Mix, mix, mix! Yes, it will look a little bit gross at first but should come together to form a vibrant red liquid.

Add this mixture to the butter and sugar and beat for another 30 seconds or until well incorporated.

Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt mixture and fold in until there are no pockets or lumps of flour.

Add in the white chocolate chips and give it all one final mix.

Refridgerate the mixture for about 20 minutes, or until the dough is a little less sticky.

This is when those gloves might come in handy. They will help to avoid any staining on your hands from the colouring! Roll about 1tbsp of dough between your palms to create a ball. Flatten the ball slightly and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure to space the cookies well apart as they will spread!

Pop them into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Just about enough time to make a pot of tea!

Take out of the oven and leave to cool on the sheet. If they have risen slightly, don’t worry! They will drop as they cool and leave you with nice, chewy centres. If you want them to be a little be more crunchy, pop them back in for 3-4 more minutes.

Enjoy these warm from the oven with a cup of tea and your feet up. Share them with your family and friends and watch their reactions! 🙂